Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Purchases 709 Shares of Chesapeake Utilities Co. (NYSE:CPK)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Chesapeake Utilities Co. (NYSE:CPK) by 46.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,241 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 709 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Chesapeake Utilities were worth $237,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in CPK. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in Chesapeake Utilities by 17.8% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 2,900,232 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $345,128,000 after acquiring an additional 438,569 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Chesapeake Utilities by 3.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,414,163 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $163,181,000 after acquiring an additional 51,208 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in Chesapeake Utilities by 1.4% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 668,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $79,960,000 after acquiring an additional 9,363 shares during the period. Copeland Capital Management LLC raised its position in Chesapeake Utilities by 8.0% in the third quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 539,936 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $52,779,000 after acquiring an additional 40,037 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in Chesapeake Utilities by 2.7% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 458,895 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $63,217,000 after acquiring an additional 11,909 shares during the period. 83.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on CPK shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Chesapeake Utilities from $101.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Chesapeake Utilities from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Chesapeake Utilities from $123.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Chesapeake Utilities presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $107.00.

Chesapeake Utilities Price Performance

CPK opened at $102.51 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.67 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $103.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $99.74. Chesapeake Utilities Co. has a twelve month low of $83.79 and a twelve month high of $132.91.

Chesapeake Utilities (NYSE:CPK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The utilities provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.53 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $185.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $234.60 million. Chesapeake Utilities had a net margin of 13.01% and a return on equity of 10.19%. The company’s revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.47 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Chesapeake Utilities Co. will post 5.41 EPS for the current year.

Chesapeake Utilities Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.30%. Chesapeake Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.89%.

About Chesapeake Utilities

Chesapeake Utilities Corporation operates as an energy delivery company. The company operates through two segments, Regulated Energy and Unregulated Energy. The Regulated Energy segment natural gas distribution operations in central and southern Delaware, Maryland's eastern shore, and Florida; regulated natural gas transmission in the Delmarva Peninsula, Ohio, and Florida; and regulated electric distribution in northeast and northwest Florida.